Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
The lake was smooth as glass as we got out of my truck and walked toward the pristine water stretched out before us.
It was dark blue during the day, but it looked black now with only the light of the moon shining on it.
Ava’s hand was warm in mine, and she made a sound—this little intake of breath that hit me right in the chest.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and yet I’m always taken aback by how gorgeous it is,” she whispered. “It’s so beautiful.”
It was.
But I wasn’t looking at the lake.
I was looking at her.
The moonlight caught the angles of her face, the curve of her smile, the way her eyes were lit up with joy and awe.
I loved that about her. I knew she’d seen the lake at night before, but Ava never seemed to take a moment for granted.
She cherished it. I’d never met anyone who looked at things the way she did.
“Come on.” I tugged her toward the water’s edge. “You’re not chickening out on me now, Sunshine.”
“I’m not chickening out.” But she bit her lip, and I could see the nerves flickering behind the excitement. “I’m just processing.”
“Processing what?”
“The fact that I’m about to be naked. Outside. Where anyone could see.”
I laughed and dropped her hand so I could reach for the neck of my shirt.
“No one’s going to see. It’s almost midnight, the nearest house is half a mile away, and the only witnesses are the fish and the frogs.
” I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it on the grass.
“Unless you’re worried about offending them? ”
She rolled her eyes, but I caught the way her gaze dropped to my chest, then traced down my arms where the moonlight caught my ink and lingered there for a beat longer than strictly necessary. I flexed. Just a little.
“Show-off,” she muttered.
“Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” I kicked off my shoes and reached for my belt buckle. “Your turn, Aves. Unless you need help?”
The challenge landed exactly as intended. Her chin lifted—that stubborn Dumontier pride—and her fingers went to the straps of her sundress. She held my gaze as she slid them off her shoulders, and then shimmied the fabric down over her breasts and hips before letting it pool at her feet.
Fuck me.
She stood there in nothing but her bra and underwear, and I completely forgot how to breathe.
I’d seen her naked before. But there was something about this—about her standing at the edge of a lake in the middle of nowhere, looking at me like I was the only man in the world—that made my chest feel too tight for my ribs.
“You’re staring,” she said, but she was smiling and her eyebrow was cocked like she’d caught me.
She had no idea how right she was.
“Damn right I am.” I closed the distance between us, catching her jaw in my hand and tilting her face up. “You’re fucking gorgeous, you know that?”
The blush crept up her cheeks, visible even in the darkness. “You’re just saying that because you’re about to see me naked.”
“I’m saying it because it’s true.” I kissed her—soft and quick, but with a promise of more. “Now finish what you started, Sunshine. We’ve got a bucket list item to check off.”
She reached back and unclasped her bra, letting it fall. Then her underwear. And then she was standing before me, completely bare.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Could barely remember my own goddamn name.
“Liam.” Her voice was teasing. “You’re still wearing pants.”
Right. Pants.
I stripped out of the rest of my clothes so fast I nearly tripped, which made her laugh—this bright, delighted sound that echoed across the water. And then we were both standing there, naked as the day we were born, grinning at each other like idiots.
“Ready?” I held out my hand.
She took it. “Ready.”
Our excitement made us giddy as we ran into the water. It was warmer than I expected, but still had a bit of a chill that took your breath away until you got used to it.
“Oh my God,” she breathed, wading deeper. “This is insane. We’re actually doing this.”
“We’re definitely doing this,” I said, following her until the water reached my waist. “Although I’m mostly just here for moral support.”
“And to stare at my ass.”
“That too.”
She laughed again and dove forward, disappearing under the surface. I watched her move through the water, sleek as a seal, before she surfaced a few feet away with a gasp.
“Liam, come on. It’s amazing once you’re fully immersed.”
I dove after her.
The water swallowed me whole. For a moment, I floated in the nothing, suspended between one breath and the next. Then I broke the surface and found her treading water beside me, her hair slicked back and her face alive with joy.
“Skinny-dipping,” she announced. “Officially in progress.”
“Not checked off yet?”
“I feel like there should be more…swimming. Or something. To make it count.”
“Swimming,” I repeated. “You want to swim.”
“Is that so weird?”
“Ava.” I moved toward her, watching her eyes widen as I closed the distance. “You dragged me out here in the middle of the night to swim?”
“I didn’t drag you anywhere. This was your idea.”
True. But I hadn’t been thinking about swimming when I suggested it.
I stopped in front of her, close enough that our legs brushed under the water. Her breath caught.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” I reached out and traced a droplet of water as it slid down her neck. “Just looking.”
“At what?”
“You.”
The air shifted from one heartbeat to the next.
One second we were playful and the next we were staring at each other with more seriousness than I’d planned.
I couldn’t look away from her, our breaths mingling as we got closer.
My hand was still on her neck, my thumb resting against her pulse point while I treaded water with my other arm.
Her pulse was racing.
So was mine.
“Liam,” she whispered.
I didn’t think. I just pulled her to me.
Her body pressed against mine so perfectly it was like she was made for me and me alone.
I kissed her like I needed her to survive, like she was oxygen and I’d been drowning my whole life.
She made a sound against my mouth—not quite a moan, not quite a sigh—and her arms wound around my neck, pulling me closer.
I caught her by the waist and lifted her just enough for her to wrap her legs around me.
I swam us slightly closer to shore so I could stand without having to tread water, and for a long moment, we just stayed there.
Kissing. Holding each other. Existing in this pocket of time that felt separate from everything else.
When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
Her eyes asked questions I didn’t have the answers to.
All I had was this feeling in my chest—this heavy, aching thing that had been growing for weeks, maybe longer.
I couldn’t name it—didn’t want to name it.
Because naming it would make it real, and real things could be destroyed.
Real things ended in slammed doors and broken promises and my mother crying in the kitchen at two in the morning.
I didn’t want to destroy Ava.
I could never live with myself if I did.
But I wasn’t sure I could let her go, either.
Her hand came up to rest against my cheek, her thumb tracing my jaw. “Thank you, Liam, for doing these things with me. For making me feel safe enough to be brave.”
Something cracked open in my chest—some wall I hadn’t realized I’d built.
I kissed her again, softer this time. Slower.
Not a prelude to anything, not a means to an end.
Just a kiss because I wanted to kiss her.
Because being here with her, in this lake, under this moon, felt like the first time I’d ever wanted to stay exactly where I was.
We floated together for a long time. Not talking, not kissing, just holding each other while the water lapped gently against our skin. Her head rested against my shoulder, and I could feel her breath against my neck, warm and steady.
This was enough.
That was the thought that kept circling through my head, impossible and true.
This—just this—was enough. I didn’t need more.
I didn’t need her under me or wrapped around me or calling my name.
I just needed this. Her in my arms. The quiet of the night.
The certainty that, for right now, she was mine.
I’d had sex with a lot of women, and it had always been good—a physical release with mutual satisfaction, and everyone walked away happy.
But none of it had ever felt like this.
None of it had ever made me feel so fucking full.
“We should probably get out,” Ava murmured eventually. “Before we turn into prunes.”
“Prunes are underrated.”
She laughed, lifting her head to look at me. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You like it.”
“Correction—I tolerate it.”
I kissed her forehead—it was becoming a habit—and then we walked out of the water.
We got dressed in comfortable silence, stealing glances at each other in the moonlight.
Every time I’d look at her, her lips would pull up into a smile that had my heart beating a little faster.
When we were both clothed again, I reached for her hand, and she laced her fingers through mine without hesitation.
I drove her back home, neither of us talking during the short drive. I parked closer to the barn, so her parents wouldn’t see me if they happened to wake up and look out their bedroom window.
“Thanks again for tonight.”
“Anytime, Sunshine.”
I didn’t leave until she’d made it across the yard and into the house. As I drove toward my mom’s house, I decided I wasn’t going to worry anymore about what would happen once we finished Ava’s bucket list. Instead, I was going to take a note out of her book and choose to live in the moment.